This invention relates to electric switches in general and more particularly to an improved switch of the type which has apparatus for quenching an arc with a quenching gas.
An electric switch with two quenching nozzles arranged opposite each other at the distance of the switching gap, one of which is mounted at a stationary contact tube and the other at a stationary guide tube, with a longitudinally movable switching tube for bridging the switching gap, and with a pressure piston/pressure cylinder arrangement for generating a quenching medium flow acting on the arc, and in which the switching tube and the movable pressure piston of the pressure piston/pressure cylinder arrangement are coupled to a common drive, is described in DE-AS No. 19 66 973.
In this known electric switch the pressure cylinder of the pressure piston/pressure cylinder arrangement is arranged movably in the longitudinal direction and is coupled rigidly to the switching tube and the drive. During the breaking motion, the pressure cylinder is therefore moved, together with the switching tube, in a direction toward the pressure piston of the pressure piston/pressure cylinder arrangement. In the course of the breaking motion, the pressure piston is also set in motion by the drive, its motion being opposed to that of the pressure cylinder. Thereby, a compression or an improvement of the precompression is obtained during the breaking process particularly quickly.
It is an object of the present invention to further improve this known electric switch with respect to the quenching medium flow, where this improvement should be attainable with a simple mechanical design and low manufacturing cost.